Greek people is under occupation.
Merkel Germany, EC, ECB and IMF try to kill the Greek people by force them in internal default. In order to doing this, they kill the Liberal Democracy. As Pr. Krugman remark: "They now looking at a scenario in which Greece is forced into killing levels of austerity to pay its foreign creditors, with no real light at the end of the tunnel.
This is just not going to work."

Thursday, July 24, 2008

The Macedonian Dispute as a Yugoslav-Bulgarian conflict

The name dispute between Greece and FYROM has been seen primarily as a conflict between Greece and FYROM. Yet historically the third factor of the dispute was Bulgarian policy and its aim to annex Yugoslav and Greek Macedonia. This very aim gave Belgrade a powerful motive in creating and cementing a distinct, artificial "Macedonian" identity in order to deal with Bulgarophilia. In essence it was an intra-Slav dispute over domination in geographical Macedonia.

The constructed "Macedonian" identity meant to alienate local populations from Bulgaria. Originally the aim was built on a Marxist platform and class consciousness. Indicative of the feud between Bulgaria and the Serbian government is the reported tensions between the two countries. As pointed out by The New York Times reporter Walter Littlefield in March 1924 "the Serbian Government blames the Bulgarian Government for its own inability to establish a stable administration in Macedonia, which includes the territory around the meeting place of the frontiers of these two countries and of Greece.[1]

The two parties expressed their incompatible attitudes during the meetings of the Institute of Politics in the US two years later (1926) when "vigorous differences of opinion on the question of minorities in Macedonia between Dr. Ante Tresioh Pavichich, Yugoslav Minister to the United States, and Dr. Stephen Panaretoff, former Bulgarian Minister to the United States, disturbed the hitherto peaceful meetings of the Institute of Politics".[2]

It is worth pointing out that the reports of the time do not refer to a single "Macedonian" people but an amalgam of peoples residing in geographical Macedonia. Navarre Atkinson, of the New York Times reports in 1927 that "the restless peoples who inhabit the rocky mountains and dry plains of Macedonia want another Balkan war. These Macedonians, who caused the two Balkan conflicts which preceded the World War, from which they emerged without any benefits, last week made another attempt to throw Yugoslavia and Bulgaria into war".[3]

Bulgaria supported the idea of establishing a Balkan Communist Federation thus expressing the orthodox Communist view. In 1924 Bulgarian leader Peter Tchaulev suggested that, "there will be no peace in the Balkans so long as the greater part of that area remains unwillingly under Yugoslav domination. He is one of the three heads of the Central Macedonian Revolutionary Committee, which declares it has virtually the entire population of Macedonia organized and ready to strike for its demands when the moment arrives". [4]

The aim of containing Bulgarophilia led to the adoption of extreme policies and mass suppression of those who identified as Bulgarians or those who formulated a Bulgarian national consciousness. Actually the same policy was adopted at a very late stage by FYROM after the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the mass persecution of those who identified themselves as Bulgarian-Macedonians.

In the 1940s Yugoslav-Bulgarian rivalry intensified further. As noted by M. S. Handler, "the Yugoslav Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied today to the Bulgarian note of Oct. 1, abrogating the Bulgarian-Yugoslav treaty of alliance, by accusing the Bulgarian Government of having plotted to annex Yugoslav Macedonia.[5] This aim perplexed the political situation in the region since propaganda was targeted at both Yugoslav and Greek Macedonia [6], a fact that led Mark F. Ethridge, United States delegate on the United Nations Balkans Investigating Commission to call upon the Bulgarian liaison officer, George Koulishev to explain an article in a Communist newspaper of Sofia that said Bulgarians would welcome "the creation of a Macedonian State within the framework" of Yugoslavia" [7].Still Bulgarophilia was the main threat to Belgrade´s expansionist plans. Yugoslav irredentist plans had to be redrawn and focus on the cohesion of its territory against Bulgarian national consciousness spreading at an alarming rate.

Those in Yugoslavia who identified as Bulgarians, had to be suppressed at any cost. At the same time Belgrade actively assisted those who would like to establish an autonomous state within Bulgarian Macedonia [8]. As noted, "Yugoslav Macedonian leaders followed yesterday's attack by Lieut. Gen. Svetozar Vukmanovitch on Bulgaria by taking today an even more aggressive stand on the question of the control of Macedonia"[9]. A year later, tensions rose on the occasion of a trial in Sofia of eleven people accused of "Yugoslav activities against Bulgaria" [10]. In the meantime the Soviet Union fully endorsed Bulgarian policy against Yugoslavia that slowly but steadily distanced itself form the Soviet block eventually becoming a non-aligned state.

In 1950 a report on "troop and supply movements in Bulgaria" gave the impression that "a new Communist offensive aimed at Yugoslav and Greek Macedonia may be in the wind" [11]. Sofia still accused Belgrade of a suppressive policy towards pro-Bulgarians and Bulgarian-Macedonians [12] while the Yugoslav government established the semi-independent Orthodox Church in Yugoslav Macedonia under the Serbian Patriarchate. The move was another means of distancing local Slav populations from Bulgarian influence [13] and the need to cement Yugoslavia against Soviet policy. As reported, "Yugoslavia today formally linked the mounting Bulgarian propaganda campaign over Yugoslav Macedonia, with the recent Soviet doctrines of "limited sovereignty" and of the Communist "right of intervention".[14]

Inside Yugoslavia the issue had alarmed the public opinion but also government officials. A report by the New York Times in 1966 exposed this uneasiness since "a leading Yugoslav weekly charged this week that "certain Bulgarian circles" had again stirred up the Macedonian issue, which has plagued the politics of the Balkans intermittently since the beginning of this century".[15]

Yugoslav views and tit for tat policies were formulated on the grounds of Bulgarian expansionism and Sofia being a stern pro-Soviet Union country. In September 1968 a leading figure of the Yugoslav Communist Party rejected what he termed as "greater-Bulgarian chauvinism" [16]. This explains why the official establishment of a "Macedonian" national identity in mid-1940s was a sine qua non against Bulgarian influence. The reports of the time (1966) made clear reference to "Yugoslav Macedonia, which acquired nationhood and its own language during the last 20 years" [17].

The struggle between the two countries intensified and was attributed to "an upsurge of Bulgarian nationalism that has reintroduced a long - submerged element into the dispute over Yugoslav Macedonia, which Bulgaria claims on ethnic grounds" [18]. It led to a Bulgarian-Yugoslav bilateral meeting (1969) that "aimed at settling deep-rooted differences over Macedonia and other vital issues". The meeting led to an impasse thus "leaving the two neighboring countries at a deadlock". [19]

The above are an abridged only description of the "Macedonian dispute" between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. Greece constitutes the third parameter of the issue, yet what is less known today is the usurpation of Bulgarian history by nationalists in FYROM and the clash of the constructed "Macedonian identity" as opposed to pro-Bulgarian feelings and national consciousness in Yugoslav Macedonia. To this day Bulgarian-Macedonians have been heavily oppressed in FYROM, particularly members of the pro-Bulgarian Macedonian Patriotic Organization (see 2007 incidents), a policy aiming at purging national identity from those elements that link it to Bulgaria and points to the Bulgarian national consciousness of a number of its citizens.

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[1] The New York Times, March 23, 1924[2] "Clash on Balkans at Williamstown; Yugoslav and Bulgar Diplomats Differ Sharply Concerning Rule in Macedonia", The New York Times, August 15, 1926.[3] "Macedonia puzzles Balkan statesmen; Failure of Latest Attempt to Embroil Sofia and Belgrade Puts States on Guard", The New York Times October 16, 1927.[4] "Asserts Macedonia is ready to strike; Tchaulev, Bulgarian Leader, Tells of Aims of the "Balkan Federation", 1924, The New York Times, August 15, 1924.[5] "Yugoslavs Accuse Bulgaria of plot, Belgrade Holds Sofia Seeks Part of Macedonia", The New York Times, October 14, 1949.[6] "Propaganda Flood's Macedonia, Bulgarophiles and Pan-Slavs Active in Yugoslavia", The New York Times, July 30, 1940.[7] "Bulgarian Red Aim Asked by Ethridge", The New York Times, April 1, 1947[8] "Macedonians Seek Autonomy in Pirin; Yugoslav Communist Congress Hears Demand on Bulgaria for a 'Special Regime', The New York Times, July 25, 1948[9] Ibid.[10] "Deception by Tito Charged at Sofia; Spy Trial Hears His Aide Said Bulgar Reds Agreed He Should Direct Macedonia Operation", The New York Times, December 12, 1949.[11] "Macedonia Thrust by Sofia is Feared; Reports of Troop Movements in Border Zone Are Sifted -- Threat to Yugoslavia Seen", The New York Times, July 6, 1950.[12] "Ancient Specter Rises in Balkans; Macedonia Question Revived by Bulgarians, Who Charge Oppression by Yugoslavs", The New York Times, September 28, 1958[13] "Yugoslavs Avoid Church Division; Macedonians Restore Old Diocese, but Recognize Serbian Patriarch", The New York Times, October 6, 1958[14] "Belgrade Blames Soviet Policy For Sofia's Macedonia Claims, The New York Times, February 28, 1969[15] "Macedonia issue stirs new clash; Yugoslavs Lay Irredentist Moves to Bulgarians", The New York Times, September 18, 1966[16] Belgrade-Sofia Tension Rises", The New York Times, September 23, 1968.[17] "Macedonia Stirred by Beauty Contest", The New York Times August 8, 1966.[18] "Bulgarian Nationalism Colors Macedonian Issue; Sofia Marks 1878 Treaty That Assigned Area to It Celebrations Appear Aimed at Yugoslav Control", The New York Times, July 11, 1968[19] "Macedonia talks end in deadlock; Bulgarian Minister Leaves Belgrade After Visit, The New York Times, December 14, 1969

Goodnight democratic EU, Goodmorning German EU

TROIKA: Memorandum und Sparsamkeit Macht Frei

Austerity

Regarding the Greek debt Crisis....

Greece, a peripheral european state was encouraged to join a badly designed single currency by the rich elite of countries that dominated it. Those countries, having set up borrowing rules for the currency union, were the first to break them and did so with impunity.

Through complacency and inept financial regulation, and lacking good investment opportunities in their own stuttering economies, they then encouraged their banks to lend recklessly to the country on the periphery.

When those investments went sour, the elite governments -influence from Germany- with theirs globalizing neoliberal leadeships, rushed to bail out their banks first by loading up the debtor government with yet more loans to pay them back and then by imposing a foreign overlord to extract repayments through legal force.

Dear readers welcome in this Macedonian blog.

First of all I want to apologize from my bad English grammar. As native Macedonian my mother language is Greek and not Slavic as some of the postmodernists professors claim arbitrarily.Enjoy the blog.

We need History Lectures based on FACTS not political motives!

In November 5-8 2009 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City took place the so-called "7th Macedonian-North American Conference on Macedonian Studies".Although a number of presenters strictly deal with subjects of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, there are politically motivated lectures that attack and disparage the people of Greece, the Greek Cultural identity and as they twist historical facts through their disturbing presentation. These motivated lectures are influence under the umbrella of the Slavmacedonism [5], a post-modern ultra nationalist ideology.

Modern Macedonian question - What is it all about?

Ancient Macedonia was a Greek kingdom situated in the north end of Greece. It became the most powerful Greek state during the 4th century bc after the decline of Athina (Athens) and Sparta. Under the leadership of King Philippos II and his son Alexandros III (Alexander the Great) the Macedonian army conquered most of the world and created the world's largest empire ever, including South-East Europe, most of Asia and North Africa.After the death of Alexandros, Macedonia followed the fate of the rest of Greece. It became a Roman province, later a Byzantine province, it was occupied by the Ottoman empire and finally it became part of the indepented Greek state in 1912.Today a Slavic nation attempts to adopt the history and culture of Macedonia as their own and present themselves to the world as "ethnic Macedonians" and "descedants of ancient Macedonians"This is a blatant attack against Greece and its world wide respected history.The FYROM Slavs who claim to be "Macedonians" have no historical, cultural or linguistic relation with ancient Macedonia. They descended into the region not before the 6th cent. A.D. long after ancient Macedonia was homogenized with the rest of Greece. Their 'Republic of Macedonia' occupies less than 10% of ancient Macedonia.Therefore their claim on ancient Macedonia's name, history, culture and symbols can not be justified.

Macedonian Followers

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THE MACEDONIAN STRUGGLE 1904-1908

US Senate Resolution 300

the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia should stop the utilization of materials that violate provisions of the United Nations-brokered Interim Accord between the FYROM and Greece, regarding hostile activities and propaganda, and should work with the United Nations and Greece to achieve longstanding United States and United Nations policy goals of finding a mutually acceptable official name for the FYROM

About Me

First of all I want to apologize from my bad English grammar. As native Macedonian my mother language is Greek and not Slavic as some of the postmodernists professors claim arbitrarily.
Our common international society cannot survive when history is ignored, much less when history is fabricated. FYROM, must to understand that it cannot build a national identity at the expense of historic truth.